Peace Through Chemistry IV, 1970: Lithograph on paper by Roy Lichtenstein

  • Roy Lichtenstein Peace Through Chemistry IV (1970), featuring segmented panels with blue and yellow colour sections on the left and monochrome black Ben-Day dot industrial imagery across the centre and right, including machinery and a hand holding a test
    Peace Through Chemistry IV, 1970
    Lithograph on Special Arjomari paper, sheet: 76.2 x 126.9 cm
    Edition of 56; plus 6 AP, 1 RTP, 1 PPII, 3 GEL, 1 C
    ©The Estate of Roy Lichtenstein
    BACK TO: PEACE THROUGH CHEMISTRY SERIES

     

    Peace Through Chemistry IV, 1970, presents a fragmented, multi-panel composition in which colour and monochrome are set in deliberate contrast. The left section introduces blue Ben-Day dots and a bold blue structural form, punctuated by a sharp yellow line that cuts diagonally through the image. Moving across the composition, the central and right panels shift into black and white, where machinery, cogs, pipes, and a stylised hand holding a test tube are rendered in stark Ben-Day dots and solid black forms. The segmented structure creates a sense of visual progression, guiding the viewer from colour into reduction, while maintaining a tightly controlled, graphic language throughout.
     
    Produced as a lithograph on Special Arjomari paper and published by Gemini G.E.L., the work forms the final print in Lichtenstein’s Peace Through Chemistry series. Across the series, he explores industrial imagery through repetition and variation, using mechanical motifs and bold compositional divisions to reflect on the relationship between science, industry, and modern life. In this final iteration, the contrast between colour and monochrome emphasises process and structure, reinforcing Lichtenstein’s interest in reproduction, visual systems, and the transformation of complex imagery into precise, graphic form.

  • "I don't make any distinction between the art I make and the commercial art."

     

    - Roy Lichtenstein

    The selective use of colour alongside monochrome panels highlights the mechanics of image construction, drawing attention to how meaning shifts through subtle formal changes. Rather than presenting a singular narrative, the work operates as a system of repeated motifs and altered structures, where scientific imagery, industrial forms, and graphic patterning are reduced to a controlled visual language. This final print underscores Lichtenstein’s broader aim to question originality and authorship, positioning reproduction itself as both subject and method.